So you’ve just finished a Round of 12WBT, or maybe you’ve been going it alone for the last little while to achieve your health goals. But let’s be honest, now that the season has changed, we all know how hard it is to continue your momentum through winter!

How To Get Through Winter

Well… winter does not need to be the season where we put on a few extra kilos of ‘insulation’ (the average weight gain for most Aussies is 3kg!). Here are 3 simple ways to respect your hard work so far and continue achieving your health goals throughout the winter months.

Understand your why

We all have further goals that we want to achieve. Whether weight loss and health, professional, financial or personal. But why is your goal as it is? Why do you want to lose another 10kg. Why do you want to further improve your fitness. To be honest, when it’s so damn cold outside, the last thing you feel like doing is going outside in the chilly air to exercise before or after work. You’d rather be inside watching TV in your ugg boots and spooning down creamy pasta, right?! So finding your why is what will keep your momentum going when your motivation levels are sitting at zero!

Also read: 11 Motivational Tips to Help You Work Out in the Morning

Reward yourself

You’ve just put your body and mind through a period of high pressure and ultimately high stress to hit your end goal. And whether you’ve reached it completely or not, it’s important that you reward yourself for giving it your all! If you didn’t quite get there, acknowledge where you could improve for next time and be proud of what you did achieve. We are often far too hard on ourselves and the disappointment and overload of pressure we put on ourselves is so detrimental to our mindset in the long run! If you did achieve your end goal, HUGE CONGRATULATIONS! Reward yourself with something that will encourage you to reset and keep striving to be your best. Get a massage, buy yourself a new collection of activewear or go on a weekend away! You deserve it!

Set a BIG audacious ‘performance’ goal

What’s your next health and fitness goal? Is it fairly achievable? Perhaps a little too ‘safe’? And is it weight loss based? Well… now is the time to blow it out of the water and set a BIGGER goal! I’m not talking about a weight loss goal, but a performance-based goal. Goals like, “by the end of winter I want to……….run 5km non-stop, learn to deadlift 50kg or squat with a barbell.” The reason behind this thinking is that you have spent so much mental energy recently around ‘losing weight’. It’s time to give your brain a change of stimulus so you don’t burn out and just completely give up! Dig deep into your ultimate dreams, set yourself a challenge you’ve always wanted to try and take the leap! If it’s a running-based goal, check out the 6 awesome 12WBT running programs or if it’s a strength focused goal, the Lean & Strong program has your name all over it!!

Still unsure of your next big performance-based goal? Check out these stories from some absolutely inspiring 12WBTers:

From Couch Lover to Marathon Runner: Mel’s 12WBT Story

A GP’s 12WBT Journey – Six Rounds And Two Marathons!